Obama tries to woo back New Hampshire from GOP

CAMPAIGN 2012

Julie Pace, Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Photo: Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images

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US President Barack Obama (L) is greeted as he arrives to speak at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, New Hampshire on November 22, 2011 discussing the American Jobs Act and the importance of extending and expanding the payroll tax cut that has given tax breaks to millions of families across the country this year. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) less

US President Barack Obama (L) is greeted as he arrives to speak at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, New Hampshire on November 22, 2011 discussing the American Jobs Act and the importance of ... more

US President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with 5-year-old Seattle Brown after speaking at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, NH, November 22, 2011 discussing the American Jobs Act and the importance of extending and expanding the payroll tax cut that has given tax breaks to millions of families across the country this year. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) less

US President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with 5-year-old Seattle Brown after speaking at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, NH, November 22, 2011 discussing the American Jobs Act and the importance ... more

Photo: Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images

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A protester, wearing glasses, hands President Barack Obama a note as the president greeted audience members after speaking about jobs, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) less

A protester, wearing glasses, hands President Barack Obama a note as the president greeted audience members after speaking about jobs, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, ... more

Photo: Charles Dharapak, AP

Obama tries to woo back New Hampshire from GOP

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Manchester, N.H. --

President Obama dashed into politically important New Hampshire on Tuesday, seeking to steal the spotlight from Republican presidential candidates and challenging GOP lawmakers back in Washington to stand by their antitax pledges on one big measure.

He was greeted with a blunt message from Republican contender Mitt Romney, who bought campaign ads telling Obama, "Your policies have failed."

In his first trip to New Hampshire in nearly two years, the president was confronted by a state that has shifted sharply to the right since his victory here in the 2008 election. The state's crucial independent voters sided solidly with Republicans in the 2010 midterms, and recent polls suggest Obama would lose to Romney by 10 percentage points here if the election were held today.

Seeking to boost his appeal with independents in this low-tax state, Obama urged Congress to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut due to expire next month. In effect, he dared Republicans - many of whom have signed antitax pledges - to vote against an extension, a move the White House says would lead to a $1,000 tax hike on a family making $50,000 a year.

If lawmakers vote "no, your taxes go up. Yes, you get a tax cut," Obama told the crowd. "Which way do you think Congress should vote?"

Democrats had hoped to tuck the payroll tax extension, as well as a renewal of jobless benefits, into an agreement from the congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee. But with that option off the table following the committee's collapse Monday, the White House plans to make a full-court press for a separate measure to extend the tax cuts before they expire at the end of the year - and set up Republicans as scapegoats if that doesn't happen.

Obama came face to face with the frustration of some New Hampshire voters, who are fed up with a local economy that is struggling to grow and increasingly unhappy with the president's leadership.

A group of protesters outside Manchester Central High School carried signs that read "Obama Isn't Working." And the president's speech was interrupted by a handful of people venting the frustrations of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to a number of cities.

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